Train Station Usage - The Herefordshire Partnership

Train Station Usage

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has published station usage statistics for the period 2003-2006, based on tickets sales for each station. The data gives total numbers of entries (journeys starting at the station) and exits (all journeys terminating at the station). These are also sub-categorised by ticket type i.e. reduced tickets, standard tickets and season tickets. It should be noted that for season tickets the number of entries and exits are equal. Stations within Herefordshire are Hereford, Leominster, Colwall and Ledbury.

Table 1: Percentage change for all entries and exits for the period 2003 to 2006

To give an idea of overall station usage the total number of entries plus the total number of exits was calculated (table 1). From this it is clear that out of all Herefordshire stations, Hereford is by far the most used station followed by Leominster, Ledbury and then Colwall. All stations in Herefordshire have experienced a growth in station usage between the years 2003-2004 and 2005-2006, with Leominster showing the greatest increase (84%). Hereford also experienced a large growth (33%), whilst Colwall and Ledbury only showed a very small growth, 2% and 1% respectively. These stations did actually experience a greater growth over the last year but a decrease in use for the previous year. UK stations over this period showed an increase of 7%.

Chart 1. Percentage of entries and exits by ticket type

Source: Office of Rail Regulation station usage statistics

Ticket Type

When looking at all stations in Herefordshire, for the year 2005-2006, it is reduced tickets that are used most often (52%), followed by season tickets (25%) and then standard tickets (23%). This is high compared to all UK stations where reduced tickets only account for 35% of all tickets. The proportion of season tickets is, however, greater at 41% and standard tickets around the same as in Herefordshire (24%).

When looking at individual stations within Herefordshire, it is Hereford station that has the greatest use of reduced tickets (56%), followed by Ledbury (53%). Colwall has the greatest use of standard tickets (38%) followed by Ledbury (31%). Leominster has the greatest proportion of season ticket users (34%).

When looking at the difference between the number of entries and exits, it is only Hereford that has a greater number of entries than exits; all other stations have a greater number of exits. Colwall has the greatest difference in percentage terms with at 6% percentage point difference between the two. This is a result of a much greater number of standard ticket exits (22%) compared with the standard ticket entries (15%).